The topic of the Master‘s thesis focuses on NOK pieces which are produced during the production of components. NOK pieces and their rework significantly increase the company‘s costs. In the individual chapters there is an analysis of the company and the definition of a critical point. The FPY indicator was used for the analysis of the company, from which the component was identified. Three improvement concepts have been created for this component. These concepts may reduce the rate of NOK products in the company. The conclusion of the Master‘s thesis presents the evaluation and implementation of the selected change.

This master’s thesis defines and closely specifies actual trends in clamping systems for shank tools, especially used for milling and drilling operations. The project describes possibilities of application of clamping systems for shank tools for particular types of machining and briefly defines their principles. Experimental part is focused on material analyse of hydraulic and thermal clamping system. Comparing of clamping systems in term of their technical properties and their initial costs is included in technical and economical conclusion.

Master thesis is focused on proposal of improved manufacturing process of assembly named "sandwich" produced in Iveco bus company. There is solved new fixation of assembly bench, replacement of currently used glues and material of ledge as well. In the first part there is company introduction Iveco Bus. Second part consist of construction analysis and description of present manufacturing process. Further there is introduction, solving out of thesis topics and proposal of new manufacturing process is written. At the end of thesis are attached comparison between present and proposed manufacturing process.

This thesis deals with the construction of the welding clamping device for the robot cell. It is divided into two parts – the theoretical part describes welding of aluminium, MIG and TIG methods, welding robots and manipulators. The goal of the thesis is to design and construct the welding clamping device for the robot cell. In the last part of the thesis the return on investment into production of welding clamping device is evaluated.

Block stability is common and has to be studied in detail for designing tunnels. Stability of block depends upon the shape and size of the blocks, stresses around the block and factors such as clamping forces and the ratio between joint stiffness. These factors are studied in detail and are the main objective of this thesis. In this thesis influence of loading and unloading of blocks on joint stiffness and thus on ultimate pullout force are analyzed. Normal stress on the joint plane is linked with shear stiffness of the joint and relaxation of forces. Changes of forces were considered to estimate joint stiffness and ultimate pullout force using new methods in the present thesis. First method takes into account changing clamping forces considering stiffness ratio constant (Crawford and Bray). The second method was developed in which the ratio between normal and shear stiffness was taken as a function of normal stress (Bagheri and Stille). In third method, gradually pullout force is increased which changes the normal stress and joint stiffness. The lower limit of joint stiffness gives a very conservative design. So a stiffness value based on the average of lower and upper limit of normal force has also been considered. A comparison between the new methods and the previous method proposed by Crawford and Bray which considers a constant ratio of normal and shear stiffness and constant clamping forces shows that Crawford and Bray’s solution overestimates the pullout forces hence the design is unsafe. It was observed that stiffness ratio is an important factor for estimating required rock support and safety.

Neutral-point-clamped (NPC) three-level inverter is capable of handling higher dc bus voltage and producing output waveform of better quality than a conventional two-level inverter. The main objective of the present work is to analyze the existing PWM schemes for two-level and three-level inverters in terms of line current ripple, and to design new PWM techniques for the NPC inverter to reduce line current distortion. Various discontinuous PWM or bus-clamping PWM (BCPWM) methods for a two-level voltage source inverter are analyzed in terms of rms line current ripple, which is evaluated by integrating the error voltage (i.e. error between the applied and reference voltages). The BCPWM schemes can be broadly classified into continual-clamp PWM (CCPWM) and split-clamp PWM (SCPWM). It is shown that split-clamp PWM scheme leads to lower harmonic distortion than CCPWM scheme. Further, advanced bus-clamping PWM (ABCPWM) methods for a two-level inverter are also studied. These methods clamp each phase to the positive and negative DC terminals over certain intervals as in BCPWM schemes, and also switch each phase at double the nominal frequency in certain other intervals unlike in BCPWM. Analytical closed-form expressions are derived for the total rms harmonic distortion due to SCPWM, CCPWM and ABCPWM schemes. Existing sinusoidal and bus-clamping PWM schemes for three-level NPC inverters are also analyzed in the space vector domain. These methods are compared in terms of line current ripple analytically as well as experimentally. As earlier, closed-form expressions are derived for the harmonic distortion factors corresponding to centered space vector PWM (CSVPWM) and the various BCPWM methods. A three-level inverter can be viewed as an equivalent two-level inverter in each sixth of the fundamental cycle or hextant. This is widely used to simplify the control of an NPC inverter. Further, this approach makes it simple to extend the BCPWM and ABCPWM methods for two-level inverters to three-level inverters. Furthermore, the method of analysis of line current ripple for the two-level inverter can also be easily extended to the three-level case. The pivot vector, which is half the length of the longest voltage vectors produced by the NPC inverter, acts as an equivalent null vector for the conceptual two-level inverter. Each pivot vector can be produced by two inverter states termed as “pivot states”. Typically, in continuous modulation methods for NPC inverter such as sinusoidal PWM and centered space vector PWM, the switching sequence (i.e. the sequence in which the voltage vectors are applied) begins and ends with the same pivot vector in each subcycle, which is equivalent to a half-carrier cycle. To be more precise, the switching sequence starts with one pivot state and ends with the other in each subcycle. However, in case of BCPWM schemes, only one pivot state is used in a subcycle. The choice of pivot state results in a variety of BCPWM schemes for an NPC inverter. Different BCPWM schemes are evaluated in terms of rms line current ripple. The optimal BCPWM, which minimizes the rms current ripple, is determined for an NPC inverter, controlled as an equivalent two-level inverter. Further, four new switching sequences are proposed here for a three-level inverter, controlled as a conceptual two-level inverter. These sequences apply the pivot vector only once, but employ one of the other two vectors twice within the subcycle. These four switching sequences are termed as “ABCPWM sequences” for three-level inverter. These sequences exploit the flexibility available in the space vector approach to PWM to switch a phase more than once in a subcycle, which results in the application of an active vector twice within the subcycle. Influence of the proposed ABCPWM sequences on the line current ripple over a subcycle is studied. The various sequences are compared in terms of rms line current ripple over a subcycle. An analytical closed-form expression for rms line current ripple over a subcycle is derived in terms of reference magnitude, angle of reference voltage vector, and subcycle duration for each of the sequences. Further, closed-form expressions are also derived for the rms current ripple over a line cycle in terms of modulation index and subcycle duration, corresponding to the various sequences. The four proposed ABCPWM sequences for the NPC inverter can be grouped into two pairs of sequences. Each pair of sequences is shown to perform better than the individual sequences, if the two sequences are employed in appropriate spatial regions. Hence, with these two pairs of sequences, two hybrid PWM schemes are proposed. Finally, a hybrid PWM technique is proposed which employs all five sequences (conventional and proposed four sequences) in spatial regions where each performs the best. This is termed as “five-zone hybrid PWM”. The total harmonic distortion (THD) in the motor current, pertaining to all the proposed schemes, is studied theoretically over the entire range of linear modulation. The theoretical investigations are validated experimentally on a 2.2 kW, 415V, 4.9A, 50 Hz induction motor drive. The no-load current THD is measured over a range of fundamental frequency from 10 Hz to 50 Hz in steps of 2 Hz for the various PWM methods. Theoretical and experimental results bring out the reduction in current THD due to the proposed BCPWM schemes at fundamental frequencies of 45 Hz and above, compared to CSVPWM. The ABCPWM methods improve the performance at higher as well as lower modulation indices. Further improvement is achieved with the proposed five-zone hybrid PWM. At the rated frequency (50 Hz) of the drive, the improvement in line current distortion is around 36% with this hybrid PWM scheme over CSVPWM. The reduction in THD is also experimentally verified at different loads on the motor. The difference between the top and bottom capacitor voltages is measured at various operating conditions, corresponding to CSVPWM and the proposed schemes. No significant difference is observed in the dc neutral voltage shifts with the different proposed schemes and CSVPWM method. Thus, the proposed methods improve the THD at low and high speed ranges without appreciable worsening of the dc voltage unbalance.

Friction Stir Welding (FSW) was used to perform Bead on Plate (BOP) welds on 6061-T6511 aluminum extrusions. Using a DOE approach, tool rotation speed, clamp spacing, and clamping force were altered to ascertain their effects on distortion in the welded panels. Mechanical forces were monitored during the weld process. Both linear and out of plane distortion were measured on the welded extrusions. The Vickers hardness of the weld nugget was measured. The effect of each parameter on weld distortion was discovered and the mechanism of this link was suggested.

INTRODUÇÃO: A reperfusão que segue um insulto isquêmico aumenta o dano tecidual, promove inflamação local e, conforme o território comprometido, pode desencadear resposta inflamatória sistêmica e progredir com disfunção de múltiplos órgãos. O intestino é particularmente vulnerável ao fenômeno de isquemia e reperfusão e tem sido implicado na gênese da resposta inflamatória sistêmica e da disfunção de múltiplos órgãos em pacientes graves. Os benefícios cardiovasculares, microcirculatórios e imunomoduladores da solução salina hipertônica a 7,5% (HS) e as propriedades hemorreológicas da pentoxifilina são atraentes para modular os efeitos nocivos da reperfusão. O presente estudo avaliou os efeitos metabólicos e hemodinâmicos (sistêmicos e regionais) da infusão da solução salina hipertônica 7,5% com pentoxifilina (HS+Ptx), em modelo experimental de isquemia e reperfusão, induzido pelo clampeamento da aorta supracelíaca em suinos. MÉTODOS: Trinta e um suínos mestiços, anestesiados e sob ventilação mecânica, foram randomizados em 4 grupos: grupo controle (n=8, sem tratamento), grupo ringer com lactato (n=7; 32ml/kg), grupo HS (n=8; 4ml/kg) e grupo HS+Ptx (n=8; 4ml/kg+25mg/kg). Foram submetidos a clampeamento da aorta supracelíaca durante 30 minutos, ocasião em que receberam o tratamento tendo sido observados por 240 minutos após reperfusão. As variáveis metabólicas e hemodinâmicas sistêmicas foram obtidas por meio de um cateter posicionado na aorta torácica, carótida direita e de um cateter de Swan-Ganz na artéria pulmonar. Para a avaliação regional, foram posicionados cateteres na veia porta e hepática e fluxômetros ultrassônicos ao redor da veia porta, artéria hepática e da veia renal direita. Os níveis de lactato e as variáveis de oxigenação sistêmica e regional foram obtidos com amostras de sangue arterial, venoso misto, hepático e porta. RESULTADOS: O clampeamento da aorta promoveu um estado hiperdinâmico sistêmico caracterizado por hipertensão, taquicardia, aumento do débito cardíaco (DC) e da oferta de oxigênio sistêmico com redução do consumo, da taxa de extração sistêmica de oxigênio e do gradiente venoarterial de CO2, com paradoxal aumento do lactato e redução do excesso de base. A súbita queda dos fluxos porta, hepático e renal foi acompanhada pela redução da oferta e do consumo com aumento da extração de oxigênio, do gradiente portaarterial de CO2 e do lactato regional. Em todos os grupos, a reperfusão foi caracterizada por hipotensão imediata e sustentada, retorno do DC aos valores iniciais, mas com progressivo aumento do gradiente veno arterial de CO2 e da taxa de extração sistêmica de oxigênio. Regionalmente, houve recuperação inicial dos fluxos com redução do gradiente porta-arterial de CO2 e da taxa de extração regional de oxigênio, seguido, por redução gradual dos fluxos com alargamento do gradiente e aumento da extração regional de oxigênio no decorrer do experimento. Durante a reperfusão, os níveis de lactato sistêmico e regional retornaram aos basais. CONCLUSÕES: A isquemia e a reperfusão da aorta supracelíaca promoveram significativas alterações hemodinâmicas sistêmicas e regionais semelhantes em todos os grupos. A expansão volêmica administrada durante a isquemia promoveu discretas e transitórias melhorias sistêmicas e regionais, semelhantes nos grupos tratados, mas não evitou a magnitude da hipotensão observada durante a reperfusão. Uma discutível vantagem da utilização de menores volumes nos grupos HS, um possível benefício adicional da pentoxifilina nos fluxos, assim como o melhor momento para a administração dos fluidos necessitam melhor investigação / INTRODUTION: Reperfusion, following an initial ischemic insult, increases tissue damage, causes inflammation and, depending on the affected area, can trigger the systemic inflammatory response and progress toward a multiple organ dysfunction. The intestine is particularly vulnerable to ischemia/reperfusion phenomena and has also been implicated in the genesis of systemic inflammatory syndrome and the syndrome of multiple organ dysfunctions in critically ill patients. The cardiovascular, microcirculatory and immunomodulatory systems benefit from the use of hypertonic saline solution at 7.5% (HS); the hemorheological properties of pentoxifylline are attractive to modulate the harmful effects of reperfusion. The present study evaluated the hemodynamic and metabolic effects (systemic and regional) of hypertonic 7.5% in association of hypertonic 7.5% with pentoxifylline (HS +Ptx) in experimental ischemia-reperfusion injury induced by supraceliac aortic clamping in swines. METHODS: Thirty-one crossbred pigs, anesthetized and mechanically ventilated, were randomized into 4 groups: control group (n = 8, no treatment), lactate ringer\'s group (n = 7; 32ml/kg), HS group (n = 8; 4 ml/kg) and HS+Ptx group (n = 8; 4ml/Kg+25mg/kg); they were submitted to ischemia by supraceliac aortic clamping for 30 minutes. All groups received treatment during the clamping procedure and were observed for 240 minutes post reperfusion. The systemic hemodynamic and metabolic variables were obtained through catheters positioned in the thoracic aorta, the right carotid and through a Swan-Ganz catheter in the pulmonary artery. For a regional evaluation, catheters were placed in the portal and hepatic veins and ultrassonic flowmeters were placed around the portal vein, hepatic artery and right renal vein. Lactate levels and systemic and regional oxygenation variables were obtained with samples of arterial blood, hepatic, portal and mixed venous. RESULTS: The aortic clamping produced a systemic hyperdynamic state characterized by hypertension, tachycardia, increased cardiac output (CO) and systemic oxygen delivery with the reduction of consumption and systemic oxygen extraction rate and of venous-arterial CO2 gradient with a paradoxical increase in lactate and reduction of base excess. All animals presented a sudden reduction in portal, hepatic and renal flows with oxygen delivery and consumption reduction, increase in oxygen extraction and portal-arterial CO2 gradient, and regional hiperlactatemia. In all groups, reperfusion was characterized by an immediate and maintained hypotension, while CO returned to baseline values, but by a progressive increase in the venous-arterial CO2 gradient and by an increase in the systemic oxygen extraction rate. Regionally, there was an initial flow recovery with a decrease of portal arterial CO2 gradient and regional oxygen extraction rate, followed by a gradual decrease with an increase of gradient and of regional oxygen extraction during the experiment. During reperfusion, regional and systemic lactate levels returned to baseline values. CONCLUSION: Supraceliac aortic ischemia produced significant hemodynamic (systemic and regional) alterations, which were similar in all groups. The volemic expansion produced by infused fluids during ischemia promoted discrete and transitory systemic and regional improvements similar in all groups but unable to prevent the hypotension observed during reperfusion. A possible advantage of using smaller volumes in both HS groups, an equally possible additional Ptx benefit in regional blood flows, as well as the best time for fluids infusion remains to be investigated by further studies

The cardiac sodium-calcium exchanger (NCX) is an important membrane protein which regulates cellular calcium necessary for the optimal contractile function of the heart. NCX has become a focal point in ischemic heart disease (IHD) research as evidence suggests that reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced during IHD can cause NCX to malfunction resulting in an intracellular calcium overload leading to cardiac contractile abnormalities. Therefore, I hypothesized that NCX function is mediated by ROS increasing NCX1 activity during cardiac ischemia-reperfusion. To research this hypothesis, I investigated cellular mechanisms which may play a role in NCX dysfunction and also examined methods to correct NCX function. I found that reactive oxygen species directly and irreversibly modify NCX protein, increasing its activity, thereby worsening the calcium overload which is deleterious to cardiac function. I also elucidated the molecular means by which NCX protein modification occurs. Exploring pharmacological means by which to decrease NCX function to relieve the calcium overload and reduce the damage to the heart, I discovered that ranolazine (Ranexa), indicated for the treatment of angina pectoris inhibits NCX activity directly, thereby further reducing the calcium overload-induced injury to the heart. Furthermore, many IHD patients are also co-morbid for type-2 diabetes. These patients are prescribed sulfonylurea (SU) agents which act at the ATP sensitive K+ channel (KATP). One agent such as glibenclamide is known to have cardiotoxic side effects. Therefore, SUs devoid of any cardiac side effects would beneficial. Interestingly, patients possessing the genetic variant E23K-S1369A KATP channel have improved blood glucose levels with the use of the SU gliclazide. Therefore, I determined the functional mechanism by which gliclazide has increased inhibition at the KATP channel. These findings have implications for type-2 diabetes therapy, in which 20% of the type-2 diabetic population carries the KATP channel variant. In summary, the findings presented in this thesis have implications on treatment strategies in the clinical setting, as a NCX inhibitor can be beneficial in IHD and possibly type-2 diabetes. Moreover, a pharmacogenomic approach in treating type-2 diabetes may also provide a positive outcome when considering co-morbid cardiac complications such as atrial fibrillation and heart failure.

Positive systems, which carry the well known property of confining the state, output, and/or input variables to the nonnegative orphant, are of great practical importance, as the nonnegative property occurs quite frequently in numerous applications and in nature. These type of systems frequently occur in hydrology where they are used to model natural and artificial networks of reservoirs; in biology where they are used to describe the transportation, accumulation, and drainage processes of elements and compounds like hormones, glucose, insulin, and metals; and in stocking, industrial, and engineering systems where chemical reactions, heat exchanges, and distillation processes take place. The interest of this dissertation is in two key problems: positive stabilization and the positive servomechanism problem. In particular, this thesis outlines the necessary and sufficient conditions for the stabilization of positive linear time-invariant (LTI) systems using state feedback control, along with providing an algorithm for constructing such a stabilizing regulator. Moreover, the results on stabilization also encompass the two problems of the positive separation principle and stabilization via observer design. The second, and most emphasized, problem of this dissertation considers the positive servomechanism problem for both single-input single-output (SISO) and multi-input multi-output (MIMO) stable positive LTI systems. The study of the positive servomechanism problem focuses on the tracking problem of nonnegative constant reference signals for unknown/known stable SISO/MIMO positive LTI systems with nonnegative unmeasurable/measurable constant disturbances via switching tuning clamping regulators (TcR), linear quadratic clamping regulators (LTQcR), and ending with MPC control. Finally, all theoretical results on the positive servomechanism problem are justified via numerous experimental results on a waterworks system.